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WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
~ Titusville Herald ~
By H. W. Strawbridge

A. J. Cowan

Andrew Jackson Cowan was born in Plum Township on May 12, 1833. He was a son of William and Catherine McIntosh Cowen who settled in the southern side of Plum around 1826. The father, a native of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, later lived in Ohio prior to moving into Venango County.

Some members of the Cowan family spelled their last name with an “A,” while other used the “E.” William used the “E,” and A.J., our subject here, used the “A.”
A.J. Cowan, or “Jack” Cowan as he was popularly called, attended elementary school in Plum, then received further education in the academy at Waterford, Erie County, and Allegheny College, Meadville. Following this he taught school about three years.
On Sept. 1, 1859, he was united in marriage with Miss Jane W. Smith, a daughter of Col. And Mrs. Matthew Smith of Waterford. She was born on Dec. 16, 1833. The couple lived in Plum Township right from the time of their marriage.
On Oct. 4, 1859, Jack was appointed Postmaster of the Wallaceville postoffice, having succeeded E. L. Jones, Jack held this position for nearly four years, leaving it in July, 1863, at which time S. O. Small took it over. Jack also conducted a store during the time he was postmaster. Just where in the village he maintained the store and postoffice apparently isn’t known now. In 1861 he employed Paul Messner who later became a resident of Sunville.
Jack and Jane Cowan had six children, who names and years of births were as follows: Charles W. Cowan (1861), Mrs. Nancy Catherine Thompson (1864), Hunter Smith Cowan (1866), Mrs. Mary Jane Bolard (1868), George M. Cowan (1871), and Laura E. Cowan (1875). Laura died Feb. 3, 1875, aged 32 days.
Charles married Miss Eva M. Hoover on March 25, 1886. They finally lived in Ohio. Charles was quite witty and delighted in joking. As a young fellow he worked awhile on his father’s farm.
Nancy Catherine married Robert G. Thompson in 1889. She was generally called “Kit,” or “Kittie.” She was quite vivacious and was very bright. She was a fine entertainer. Their descendents live in Florida.
Hunter never married. He went to the West Virginia oil fields and worked there for years. He is remembered as having made a visit back to Wallaceville many years later, particularly at the late Elmer R. Proper home.
Mary Jane was married to John A. Bolard on Aug. 8, 1894. She was a fine girl and was a favorite of several. She, Kit and Charles often spent evenings at their Aunt Mary Jane Richey’s home, having a song fest and telling humorous stories. James W. Beers, now 89 and living at Gaithersburg, Md., lived with his grandmother, Mrs. Mary J. Richey, then and enjoyed the pleasant evenings when the Cowan children would come over. Mary died Dec. 3, 1934. Mr. Bolard, an attorney, still lives at Cambridge Springs. He possesses the Cowan family record dates.
George was married to Miss Grace Neal. As a young fellow he was nice and rather quiet. Mr. Beers recalls of George and himself once lying under Mrs. Richey’s apple tree and eating strawberry apples. George in his later years operated a drug store in Westfield, N.Y. He dies Jan. 4, 1943.
The father, A. J. Cowan, was a charter member of the Wallaceville Methodist Church which organized the spring of 1851. He was quite in expounder in church and delivered fervid and earnest prayers. For awhile during the mid or latter 1880’s he was a leader, and he was the heaviest contributor towards the church at the time too. His wife, Jane, attended this church during the latter 1860’s. She was a hard church worker.
Three of their children, Charles, Mary and Kit, unite with the Wallaceville Church on April 7, 1878. The three were baptized the summer before. Charles took a great interest in the church as a younger fellow and he was a dandy singer.
Jack Cowan’s farm was probably the finest and most attractive one in the township. His father had put forth great effort in bringing the soil under cultivation, and building a colonial-type home and a large barn. The farmstead was on a slope. The front yard was built up level and banked with a row of cut stone which was 10 or 11 yards in front of the house. There was a picket fence around the front yard. The spring was located 75 or 80 yards uphill behind the house. The large barn stood across the road from the house. It had many shuttered windows. A woodcut print of the farmstead is shown in the 1879 Venango County history volume.
Jack Cowan specialized in raising large horses, particularly mammoth Percherons. It was quite a sight to see him walking along the road and leading four or five of these grand animals. He ran a large stable and boarded horses for many people. It is said that he boarded 60 horses one winter. In his large pasture down on the flats he used to have a hay barn. Then, in a rather swampy area there, he raised big coarse hay and put it up in this barn for feed for the many horses.
J. O. Grove of Wallaceville recalls of hearing of a wonderful producing cow that Jack had one time. In the olden days drovers used to drive herds of cattle through the area, headed east towards the Harrisburg way. One of the cattle, a two-year-old Durham heifer, somehow escaped from the pen. The men tried hard to round her up, but failed. Finally they figured they had to continue on with their drive, so they told Jack if he ever could catch the critter he could have her. Later the critter came up to the barn and he caught her.
This cow turned out to be one of the best producers in the country. She gave a huge amount of milk, and much butter could be churned a day from her. It is said that Jack tried to equal the world’s record with her. What the figures were and how close he came have not been preserved today. He kept her several years. He fed her so much that it finally ruined her and he disposed of her.
At another time a stray cow came to Jack’s farm, and the following notice was written by the township clerk: “Stray Cow- Came to the Subscriber on or before the 15th of Sept. 1868 in Plum Tp, Venango Co. Marked as follows, Pale Red, Just a Common Sized Cow Supposed to be Ten or Twelve Years old, horns turn up considerable. The Owner is requested to Come forward, Prove the Property, Pay Charges and take her away. Jackson Cowan.”
Some people throughout their life are plagued by a series of misfortunes. It may be diseases, accidents, or what have you. With Jack Cowan it was fires. He had the ill luck of losing several buildings by fire at different times. Destroyed were a cooper shop, two stock barns, a hay barn, and one or two houses. The causes could not be determined.
In 1875 the first large stock barn burned. It apparently burned on a Sunday because Jack was attending services at the former Free Will Baptist Church at Plum Corners at the time. He replaced it with another large barn and, unfortunately, it went sometimes during the decade of the 1880’s. He had a third large barn built, and this barn is still standing. Jack bought the lumber for this last barn from the “500 Acre Tract” above Fauncetown, and gave $5 per M for it delivered. This barn is 70 feet long and about 57 feet wide, and it has two large hay bays upstairs. It has the old fashioned shuttered windows. The carpenters of this barn were William Borger and Mr. Breed. Assisting them were Jackson Harry and Charles Messner. It was built during the latter part of the decade of the 1880’s. It is said that the late Aaron Proper in later years changed the cow stable around in the basement of this barn.
After the colonial house burned, sometimes in the 1880’s, Jack built another house. It burned about 15 years ago – long, long after the place left the Cowan family.
In 1873 the Sunville Academy building was constructed at a cost of $5,000. Four men served on the building committee, one of whom was A. J. Cowan. The other three were Samuel Axtell, David W. Goodwin and A. W. Richey. The trustees, Cowan and Richey, sold this academy and lot to the Plum Twp. School Board on Nov. 1, 1873. A fair sized sun was contributed by private individuals, but a deficit of $2,000 remained unprovided for until assumed a few years later by the borough of Sunville.
A.J. Cowan was a large, stoutly built man. He had black whiskers. In politics he was a democrat. He was named after the seventh President of the United States- Andrew Jackson.
In 1885 Jack and James L. Peebles served as assistant assessors for the regular township assessor, Enoch Battin.
Assessment records of the years centered around 1880 show the A. J. Cowan family having been assessed for a piano. The 1883 record book states for them a “pianna,” valued at $200. This is the only piano mentioned in early Plum assessments. So, it may very well be that the Cowan home was the first in the township to have a piano, then a rarity in a country home. Organs were the common thing then.
Mrs. Jane Cowan died on Oct. 26, 1881, at the age of 47.
In 1889 Jack and his remaining children at home moved from Plum Township to Waterford. Their home was situated south of Waterford. Jack, his two daughters and Charles’ wife took their church letters away from the Wallaceville Church on April 1, 1889, and transferred to the Methodist Church at Waterford.
After his removal to Waterford, Jack was retired. He died there on Friday, May 25, 1895, aged 62. His remains were brought back to the Wallaceville Methodist Church for the funeral, at which a large crowd gathered. He was buried beside his wife in the church cemetery.
James C. Welsh next owned the Cowan farm after the Cowans moved away. Today the place is owned by John Davis who lives nearby on the former “Liv” Hoover place. Only the big barn and carriage shed remain today. Mr. Davis tills most of the fields and stores hay and straw in the barn.

Transcribed by Chrissy Wolfgong

Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription of information from both early and late (current contributors) work.